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American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World.

Baron, David (author).

Much was at stake when the American West experienced a total solar eclipse in 1878, as that rare event came while the nation was striving to shed its reputation as a scientific backwater. American Eclipse vividly traces the journeys of three larger-than-life figures intent on making their mark during less than three minutes on that gusty July day. One of them was a young inventor named Thomas Alva Edison. Although showered (at times besieged) with attention after his recent invention of the phonograph, he was still striving to prove his scientific ability. He hoped to use the eclipse to test a new invention, designed to measure tiny increments of heat from stars to determine their distance from Earth. Meanwhile, the redoubtable astronomy professor Maria Mitchell launched an all-female eclipse expedition as part of her career-long quest to prove women had a place in the sciences. And James Craig Watson, a Michigan astronomer engaged in a nineteenth-century space race with a rival to discover the most asteroids, set out to prove the existence of a planet between Mercury and the sun. With a wealth of choice details about their lives, Baron brilliantly presents these three pioneers, their ambitions, and their struggles. As America again prepares to experience solar totality, Baron transports us to a remarkable moment that brought a nation together to witness the wonders of the heavens. Bridget Thoreson